COVID 19 quarantines or lockdowns around the world are causing major impacts on our economy. However, there is one key benefit that modern society has that hasn’t been attainable in the past and that is the internet.
Increased connectivity has allowed plenty of businesses to continue their operations despite being unable to their physical stores. To help shed light on the key digital marketing trends worth focusing on the COVID 19 pandemic, we invited Jessica Madrazo to speak in the VirtualPreneur Summit of 2020.
The Speaker: Jessica Madrazo
Jessica Madrazo is known as the Obi-Wan Kenobi to businesses who want to harness the power of the force through the internet. She is the co-owner and Operations Director of Coffeebot Solutions, which is a digital marketing company in Davao.
Jessica is also a digital marketing expert who has 13 years of experience in the business process outsourcing industry. Her goal is to empower businesses and organizations through strategies applied in online marketing.
Jessica also trains digital marketing strategies and e-commerce to businesses and freelancers, as well as responsible social media usage for teens and their parents.
What Can You Learn from the podcast:
- Why you must invest on marketing (3:42)
- Why you should invest in online courses (6:12)
- What can you do for your clients (11:02)
Connect with Jessica Madrazo via FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN or through the WEBSITE.
How Is Covid 19 Changing Your Operations
Jessica is currently in Davao for the COVID 19 quarantine. She shared that although restaurants have been quiet, online businesses are continuing their operations.
For her team, they are quite experienced with the work from home protocol. She mentioned that it was the best strategy to keep her employees safe. And although some of her employees lack the computers, she was more than happy to lend it to them in order to not hinder their operations.
For her clients, they had some difficulties setting up video conferencing but are now more open to the new norm. They have become quite creative with applications like Zoom and other apps than Skype.
Suggested Actions For Business Owners
Jessica mentioned how she has been reading a lot of articles regarding the adverse effects of the lockdowns or Enhance Community Quarantines.
But although it is a peaceful time for your operations, you don’t have to be complacent.
Jessica believes that this is the perfect time to learn about marketing and the benefits it can bring to your business.
Focus on online marketing
Jessica noticed and she believes a lot of business owners are having a greater appreciation for other businesses’ ability to remain open with a skeletal workforce, an online chat and website orders.
The food delivery apps are also assisting plenty of restaurants and food industries to continue providing essential goods to their consumers.
Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing is still the same as any type of marketing but with an added feature that you can connect and influence your customers online.
Digital Marketing refers to any online marketing efforts or assets from Emails, Pay-per-click advertising, social media marketing, blogging and more. They help your business make use of online noise to introduce and reach your targeted audience.
What are your digital marketing assets?
Your digital marketing assets are your marketing tools. Many people don’t realize how there are plenty of digital marketing assets they have in their arsenal. Here are a few examples:
- Your website
- Branded assets
- Video content
- Images
- Written content
- Online products or tools
- Reviews
- Social media pages
This list is just a scratch of the surface, most marketing assets will fall under these categories but the list does keep on growing.
Digital Marketing Strategies
You have your list, you are probably thinking about strategies on how to evolve your business. Let’s discuss two of the most common terms you are gonna come across:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Simply put, SEO is how you can try to rank your pages or blog posts on your search engine results organically or without the use of money. However, compared to Pay-per-click Ads (PPC), which is how the name sounds, it’s gonna take a much longer time.
You run advertisements on the search engine platform. If any keywords match the queries of the search engine user, your ads will be shown. However, you only have to pay per click of your links.
2. Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Like SEO, social media marketing is a free, organic way to market your business through the use of Facebook or Twitter. They do take a longer time to run, but they provide you with an online presence and traffic that are cheaper than traditional marketing methods (TV, Newspaper, Radio and the like).
READ ALSO: Local Business Owner’s Strategies and Action Plans Against the Impact of COVID-19
Top 3 Online Courses For Digital Marketing
There are a lot of things to discuss in Digital Marketing. In order to have a clear direction on the jargon that will come your way, we suggest learning about them using free, some premium online courses on the web.
Google Online Marketing Challenge
Google offers plenty of free online courses that can provide certificates at the end of each exam. They can range from introductory lessons with a wide scope and they offer free online digital marketing courses with a competitive angle and real-world experience.
HubSpot Academy
HubSpot Academy also offers a comprehensive digital marketing course that can be completed in four, eight to sixteen hours.
Alison Free Diploma in E-Business
Alison is a massive online learning community with standards-based and certified courses that are absolutely free for the public. You can take the course and build your knowledge in SEO, Google Analytics, AdWords, Online metrics and more!
Bonus: Coursera
Jessica Madrazo also recommends if you have the budget, try on Coursera. Although it is quite pricey, it offers plenty of pointers especially since she is planning to complete her MBA at the University of Illinois.
Buyers Persona
As you dive deeper into marketing, you are going to come across the term, buyers persona. Simplified, it is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer.
The fictional character is based on actual data and market research of who your target customers are which includes a few educated assumptions about their lifestyle.
Why is it important?
They are the core of your marketing strategies. If you are unable to define your specific audience then you will be unable to connect with them, and thus your marketing efforts will be wasted.
Buyer personas will allow you to focus on the challenges faced by your customers and provides you with a precise action on knowing the content to create.
Buyer personas help you know who to attract, who to delight and get on board with your business.
How to create a buyer’s persona?
Creating your buyer’s persona is going to depend on each industry. However, you can start with interviewing three to five people for the process. You’ll know when to stop when you are already able to predict what your interviewee is about to say.
From HubSpot, they provided 20 questions to ask in persona interviews and are categorized but are not absolute. And may still need to be added or removed depending on what’s appropriate for your target customers.
Role
- What is your job role? Your title?
- How is your job measured?
- What does a typical day look like?
- What skills are required to do your job?
- What knowledge and tools do you use in your job?
- Who do you report to? Who reports to you?
Company
- In which industry or industries does your company work?
- What is the size of your company (revenue, employees)?
Goals
9) What are you responsible for?
- What does it mean to be successful in your role?
Challenges
- What are your biggest challenges?
Watering Holes
- How do you learn about new information for your job?
- What publications or blogs do you read?
- What associations and social networks do you participate in?
Personal Background
- Describe your personal demographics
- Describe your educational background. What level of education did you complete, which schools did you attend, and what did you study?
- Describe your career path. How did you end up where you are today?
Shopping Preferences
- How do you prefer to interact with vendors?
- Do you use the internet to research vendors or products? If yes, how do you search for information?
- Describe a recent purchase. Why did you consider a purchase, what was the evaluation process, and how did you decide to purchase that product or service?
Ending Note: Checking Up On Your Clients
As a digital marketing specialist and influencer, Jessica Madrazo also mentions how important it is to check up on your clients. Research, talk and ask what you can do to help them out.
We’re all affected by the COVID 19 and it is best to stay connected and reach out to them. Nurturing the feeling of a community is how you can ensure that you both will get through this together.
You can use social media, responsive websites and keep your communications line open until our lives will return to normal. (A. Menchavez)
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